Dear Mexican: I am a retired gringa living in Mazatlán, Sinaloa. Most of us foreigners here are liberal and sympathetic to the immigration problem, which the U.S. Congress refuses to address in a meaningful way.
Unfortunately, I get lots of e-mails from acquaintances “apprising” me of the horrible situation in el Norte, about how all their tax dollars are being spent to educate and provide medical and Social Security benefits (Yes! They say that!) to these “criminals.” I used to laboriously write letters and show statistics and all that. IT DOESN’T DO ANY GOOD. Now I ignore the messages but feel guilty about not trying to correct the bullshit.
Can you give me a good short response to those e-mails? Something in Spanish telling them they are stupid would be nice, but some of these people are actually friends! I will be forever grateful.
Gringa Near the Agua
Dear Gabacha Cerca de la Water: No, you should always respond with facts and stats, preferably disseminated by your humble Mexican scribe. Here’s a new one: Did you know that fully 100 percent of supporters of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer are fools? It’s the truest stat since someone determined that the sun rises and sets every day in the world’s non-polar regions.
In reality, por favor, never stop spreading the truth. The truth is like a Mexican: It can be ignored, spat upon, ridiculed and even deported, but it wins out. It perseveres. The truth (and a Mexican) eventually multiplies to the point where it overwhelms anything before it. Name-calling and insults are muy fun, but pointless unless you come armed with those facts and stats; that has been this column’s mantra since Día One.
Please do continue to provide stats to your so-called amigos; as for the good, short response to end each letter: ¡A LA CHINGADA CON ARPAYASO Y BREWJA!
I’m an old school veterano wondering why young 20- and 30-something Hispanic professionals are so afraid of the Chicano Movement.
Is it because of those mean-looking Brown Berets? The women Brown Berets wore mini-skirts and go-go boots, but I admit that even they looked angry. Or is it because of those Chicano and Chicana high school students who busted out of school to protest racism when they should have been going to their private SAT-prep classes? (Oh, wait: We couldn’t afford those.) Or is it because some movement leaders like Reies Tijerina spoke Spanish really fast?
I know there are no more problems for young Raza with the educational system and foreign wars, but maybe y’all should cut the poor old movimiento some slack.
En Pie De Lucha (With My Cane)
Dear In Struggle (Con Mi Bastón): It’s the same reason that those same professionals criticize undocumented college students for staging protests outside the offices of Democratic Party bigwigs who don’t push enough for the DREAM Act, or why trade unions join forces with captains of industry today—alliances that would’ve wobbled the senses of their predecessors. It’s the same reason why the descendants of wops (like Arpayaso), micks, Polacks and krauts agitate for Know Nothing policies today.
It’s the American way, profe: When people get their slice of the pastel, they forget the radicalism and activism that created the path that allowed them to exist and be successful pendejos.
But I do have to admit that in the case of hard-line Chicanos, many of our more-assimilated, less-radical hermanos y hermanas also don’t like y’all because of your nasty puritanical streak. I can’t tell you how many letters I get from otherwise down people whom yaktivists ridicule because their skin is too light, their Spanish is too pocho, or because they can’t recite the poetry of Nezahuacoyotl upon request. Onward with la causa—but let’s leave ideological tests solely to politics and not to how mexicano one is, ¿sale?
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This article appears in Aug 5-11, 2010.
I find it ironic that your comments policy precludes the use of obscene or racist comments, yet the writer of this column is free to use spanish profanities and ethnic slurs. Seems like a double standard to me. If the intent of this column is to open eyes, hearts and minds then I daresay it is headed in the wrong direction
I do not have a question, but just have to get this out there. The problem here is not “immigration”, but rather illegal immigration. There are alot of us real American CITIZENS who are sick and tired of paying for medical care, education and losing our jobs to Mexican illegal immigrants. I personally do not have any problems with immigrants as long as they are legal! I fight for the freedoms of the U.S. citizens and I am just waiting my turn to go to the border to keep illegals out!!!! GO SHERIFF JOE!!!!
The U.S. Government is not gonna do more than send 1200 National Guard troops to help along the border. There is too much industry between the U.S. and Mexico for either government to do much about it. That includes the drug trafficking and human trafficking (which i know for a fact is going on and so do the local governments in Arizona, but they are afraid to do anything to shut down the Mexican Mafia)!!
I’m kinda thinking that since Gustavo, like many others from Mexico, spend an inane amount of time complaining about the USA, maybe you oughta hop on the next train south into the interior of Mexico and simply stay there. I’m also guessing the USA has been pretty good to you. You can’t be hurting too much for gringo dollars or you wouldn’t be traveling to promote your book(s). So instead of continuing to complain about us ‘know nothings’ how about you just get out and leave us alone. You can talk about Reconquest all you want, but there were no pure blood Mexicans before the Spaniards came over here. There were Indians. The Spaniards conquered the Indians and the Americans conquered this part of Mexico. Did we ‘steal’ it? Maybe, maybe not. Get over it. Go clean up Mexico and quite belly aching about the USA.
LoachGunner
Whenever I hear someone say they aren’t against immigration, just illegal immigration, my response is, fine. Let’s take care of that by making a work permit as easy to obtain as say, a concealed weapons permit. If a Mexican citizen applies to come here to work, passes a criminal background check, and completes a short course in his or her rights and responsibilities while living in the US, let them have the damn permit so they can come here legally. If we did that, we would have a better idea who is actually here, they would be better able to stand up for their rights, and it would be a lot easier to keep the few who truly don’t belong here from entering.
a few months back, we had the displeasure of having mexico’s presidente, calderon, spank our congress in our own house and the fools actually cheered. today, i understand that mexico is doing the same thing that he has been bitcxxxx about the United states doing, that is, to build a fence to keep them guatamalans out of mexico, impoverished or not, and this is to include the hondurans and el salvadorans. MEXICAN, how is this different than our own illegal person problem?